MANILA, Philippines – Tokyo Olympian Kurt Barbosa and three other Filipino taekwondo jins fell short of prized Paris Games berths in the World Taekwondo Asian Qualification Tournament in Tai’an, China.

Hoping to extend the Philippines’ streak of sending a taekwondo athlete to the Olympics, Barbosa, Tachiana Mangin, Baby Jessica Canabal, and Arven Alcantara all suffered heartbreaks in their respective weight categories.

A win away from a second straight Olympic appearance, Barbosa absorbed a 2-0 loss to Kazakhstan’s Samirkhon Ababakirov in the men’s -58kg semifinals on Saturday, March 16.

Barbosa struggled to score against the taller Kazakh, who utilized his length to keep the Filipino at bay and win convincingly by scores of 7-4, 16-5.

Only the top two athletes from each of the eight weight divisions – four for men and four for women – qualified for Paris.

Mangin and Canabal also reached the semifinals but both ended up unsuccessful in their bids to make their Olympic debuts.

Canabal fell prey to Lebanon’s Laetitia Aoun, 2-0, in the women’s -57kg class on Saturday, while Mangin bowed to Saudi Arabia’s Dunya Abutaleb, 2-0, in the women’s -49 category on Friday.

Mangin sustained arguably the closest loss among the three Filipino semifinalists as she fell to Abutaleb in a match that could have gone either way.

A head kick gave Mangin a 3-0 lead in the opening round, but Abutaleb answered with a head kick of her own to forge a tie. Two of the three officials then voted in favor of the Saudi Arabian in the tiebreaker.

Seeking to force a decider, Mangin kept in step with Abutaleb in the second round that went scoreless in the first 1:40 minutes until the Filipina incurred a gam-jeom (one-point penalty) with under 20 seconds remaining.

Barbosa and Canabal, though, ended their campaigns on a high note as they won their bronze-medal matches against Saudi Arabia’s Riad Hamdi and Cambodia’s Julie Mam, respectively.

Meanwhile, Alcantara exited the tournament following a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Ali Reza Abbasi of the Refugee Olympic Team in the men’s -68kg quarterfinals.

It will be the first time since the 2012 London Games that the Philippines will not be represented in Olympic taekwondo.

Barbosa donned the national colors in Tokyo in 2021, while retired Kirstie Alora saw action in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. – Rappler.com